The Behrend College C FEB 1 3 1998 BEf MEND COL! Ea co 11 e giau...nv Thursday, February 12, 1998 INSIDE... News Campus access for the disabled page 2 Calendar This weekend's movie: The page 3 Editorial Game Students and caffeine Campus News Dangers of date rape drugs ...page 5 World & Nation American elected president of Lithuania ...page 6 Features Review of Kundun Sports Lady Lions drop two to Grove City and Laßoche ...page 9 Ream addresses campus sidewalk, parking complaints Joet Kolano staff writer At the Student Government Asso ciation meeting last night, John Ream, Director of Operations, confronted questions and comments about issues from snow removal to parking from the Senate members. Student Pro gramming Council President Rob Ring brought up the need for a staircase to the Nick building's lower parking lot. Ream said that the college had thought about that in the planning of the lot but that they would rather install ramp walkways, preferably with a five per cent grade or less to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. He also said that steps are very difficult photo by Jason Blake The Lions continue on a roll, winning their ninth straight last night against Grove City College. Guard Brock Bovaird looks to penetrate toward the basket for a score. Story on page 10. Student activity fee in cost may go up Last Thursday, the Student Activ ity Fee Allocation Committee began the daunting task of creating the bud get for next year. The first decision made was to keep the activity fee for students attending Behrend in the summer. Charles Testrake, a student member of the committee, commented that the, "fee is needed," and Dr. Chris Reber, Dean of Student Affairs and committee member, agreed, adding that the, " in vestment made will benefit future stu dents." page 4 Another important issue brought up was the possible increase in the fee for next year. The decision to raise the fee is not made at Behrend, but is a university wide decision. However, the committee made provisions for this by discussing how much the fee would be raised. There was concern that the activity fee would be handled like the computer fee with a big in crease after a period of a consistent fee. page 7 Cinnamon Lamson, a committee member, emphasized that the fee will eventually have to be raised and the impact wouldn't be as great if it were to maintain in winter. Another staircase that was pointed out was the one that leads to Niagara Hall, which they also hope to make into a ramp. SGA Secretary Michelle Benjamin informed Ream of the steps leading to Perry Hall. She said that during bad weather, the steps trans form into a cascade of ice and that they are very dangerous. Ream replied that they had hoped to heat the steps, how ever, they ran out of funds to do so. These funds fall under the title of "ma jor maintenance" which is used to re place or repair existing property, it can not be used to purchase new property. They are very aware of the need and they are in the process of trying to by Anne Rajotte managing editor done in small increments. Chris Rizzo, Director of Student Activities went on to say, " Behrend is only go ing to get bigger... the needs are go ing to,grow." Julie Cain, another com mittee member, suggested a $2 per semester increase to cover the cost of inflation. No final decision on the possible increase was reached. The committee then began to go through every request made by stu dents and faculty. Some requests, such as etiquette training and a disabled van driver, were disregarded because they weren't under the guidelines of the student activity fee. Other sugges tions, such as reopening the swim ming pool near the Glenhill Farm house were thrown out because of li ability and the fact that the new ath letic complex, scheduled to be fin ished in the summer of 2000, will have a pool. It also would have little benefit to many students, as there is not appropriate swimming weather much of the fall and spring semesters. The committee has about $159,000 to work with according to Reber. All decisions made at this meeting were tentative. The Student Government amend the problem. Ream bluntly admitted that Behrend has a sidewalk shortage and that they are requesting funds. In regard to Almy, the sidewalk col lects water, and despite salting, slip pery ice remains. Ream stated that, "it is not a good walkway." He has asked the design firm to come up with solu tions for these problems. A possible solution is a drainage system that runs under the walkway. Charles Testrake, a senate member, Speaker sparks controversy and anger by Will Jordan staff writer " The race of man is far from fin ished," Dr. Ivan Van Sertima empha sized at his speech Tuesday night. Certain aspects of his speech caused tempers to flair and one faculty mem ber to storm out of the lecture hall. Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, a literary critic, anthropologist, and linguist, spoke about Blacks in science Tues day night in the Reed Lecture Hall. He is a professor at Rutgers Univer sity and is the author of "'They Came Before Columbus" about Africans traveling across the Atlantic Ocean. Dr. Van Sertima was educated at the University of London. He also stated that he grew up in the jungle of Ghana and was raised by Native Americans. The first major issue that he touched on was the fact that European American scholars are not following the British methods of Archaeology. He backed this statement with a spe cific find. Two archaeologists found a machine that could achieve tremen dous amounts of heat to smelt iron into steel. This became a major in dustry, as African steel was used in Britain for weapons and other tools. However, the industry did not last long due to the depletion of the for ests. Dr. Van Sertima strongly empha sized that Africans were and still are thought of as savages and simple people. To dispute this, he explained that an ancient African tribe that lived in the mountains was very advanced. They plotted a map of a star that is not visible by the naked eye. They were also aware of such things as the Erie, PA 16563 Published weekly by the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College Volume XLVI. No. 17 Plans for campus area development discussed at SGA photo by Jason Blake Behrend Director of Operations John Ream, right, speaks with SGA President N. Michael Zampetti, left, and SGA Vice President Timothy Smith, center, before last night's SGA meeting. In the next millenium, the Erie com munity will be accessing a new high way, the Eastside Highway. Behrend Director of Operations John Ream attended the Student Government Association meeting last night to in form the members of the new high way plans that would affect the Be hrend campus. He also spoke about zoning in the areas surrounding the campus and why we do not have com- brought up 'the issue of emergency call boxes. Ream stated the cost of phones are usually part of a project because it is easier and less expensive to obtain them in this manner. Plans that include the phones are the parking lot that will be south of Ohio Hall (three phones) and from the Erie Hall parking lot to the new athletic fields (two phones). Ream commented that he would like atom, the "big bang theory", and the fact that the universe is still expand ing. He said that the people described the universes' expansion as "the stars running away from us." These people also knew that the sun spins on its own axis. He stated that all of these facts were known before the Europeans dis covered it. These people had a pas sion about the stars, physics, and quantum mechanics. Dr. Van Sertima then spoke about the scripts of the African people. He said that Europeans had very few scripts of their own. The Celtics, Greeks, and Romans had their own scripts. The Roman script is the one most widely used. Africans had just as many scripts as the Europeans, though only a few survived slavery. Dr. Van Sertima said that he once saw a man writing in the dirt and thought that he was drawing a very beautiful picture. In fact, the man was using one of the scripts that had survived. The drawings even found on women's breasts were all script. Dr. Van Sertima said that the "ignorance of people has led to misunderstandings." Ethiopians alone have half a dozen scripts. An astronomical observatory has been found in northwest Kenya. One of the most detailed calendars was built in 300 BC by the people in the observatory. Dr. Van Sertima stated that water connected Africa to America. African top soil has been found in South America. In 1969 a boat that was used by Africans to cross to America before Christ was found. Hans Lindamen used an African boat to go to America using current power. Joet Kolano staff writer mercial business as of yet. A major reason that we do not have these businesses is because of the lack of public water and sewage. Behrend obtains their water from extension which crosses Cooper Road but there is none yet along Station Road. Our only sewage (and the end of the line) is the green building at the entrance to campus. There are plans to extend the water and sewer lines this sum mer so that commercial building can be facilitated. to hear from students as to where they feel the emergency phones are needed. Parking was a huge concern of the night. From overnight parking for commuters to freshman parking per mits and the allocation of parking spaces, no stone was left unturned. As of right now, there is no plan in the future for freshman to be denied per mits. Ream said, "There is a legiti- Africans relied on water current power to sail to America. Evidence that Africans had sailed to America was found with bananas, and some African words had been adopted by the Native Americans as well. Africans also made breakthroughs in medicine. One of the first African vaccines was used when smallpox broke out in Boston. In addition, Af ricans developed a medicine which cures diarrhea and perfected the cae sarean section. In the 1870's British scholars studied African surgical methods, anesthesia, and antiseptics. Africans also contributed with tetra cycline and aspirin. The next topic that Dr. Van Sertima touched on was Egypt. He said that Egypt had been invaded by the Syr ians in 1660 BC, and later by the Greeks, Romans, and English, "Egypt has changed dramatically." He read from a piece to answer the question "who were the Egyptians?" The Egyptians' language, writing, beliefs, and technology are predomi nantly African. Some Americans also discovered that the first pharaohs weren't born in Egypt but in Africa. "Egyptians had incredible opportuni ties." The astronomy of the Egyptians was very advanced. They knew that the stars move every 26,000 years and that the planets rotate around the sun. They developed the first water clocks and the first sun dials. Another issue that he touched on was that African Americans are re sponsible for over 1,000 inventions such as the electric lamp, the first ro tary engine, the stop light, elevators, portable refrigerators, typewriters, the The main prospects for business development are across from the cam pus entrance and/or at the interchange of 1-90, which would generate capi tal not only from the University but also from the traveling public. When Ream was asked if he thought that the Township Supervisors would restrict business expansion, he said he thought they would not. The only concern, he thought, would he from mate need for vehicles on campus due to the lack of development surround ing us for work, etc." The reason that students cannot keep their cars parked overnight in the commuter lots is be cause of snow removal. Third, allo cation of parking to specific halls "is not an efficient way of using parking." Ream prefers the "open hunting sea son" that we currently use. machines that mass produce shoes, the fountain pen, lawnmower, lawn sprinkler, corn harvester, engine lu bricator, clothes dryer, and fire escape just to name a few. However, the Af rican Americans that invented these devices did not get any credit because they did not have any patents. This was due to the fact that they were not thought of as citizens. In the next segment of his speech, Dr. Van Sertima showed a series of slides of devices that Africans had built, African Americans in NASA, and Egyptian statues. He also showed slides depicting the "faces of Africa." Africans have different facial struc tures depending on where they lived geographically. Dr. Van Sertima also brought up the fact that at one point in 1711 AD Af ricans invaded Europe. They brought with them such things as cherries, apples, dates, oranges, rice, tobacco. He also stated that in the years before the invasions of Africa, the Greeks had a high opinion of Africans. Dr. Van Sertima ended his speech by say ing that "the race of man is far from finished." The next segment was a question and answer session. One question that caused tempers to flair was posed by the Director of the School of Science, Dr. Roger Knacke. He questioned Dr. Van Sertima's statements regarding the African people's many discover ies. He wondered why it was stated that the Africans knew some concepts first but it wasn't known that the Af ricans knew them until after the inva sion of Africa. Dr. Van Sertima re- S .eaker continued .a De 2
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